Tried Every Eczema Treatment With No Luck? Then Here’s One Option You’ve Never Tried

Have you or someone you know ever said the phrase, “I’ve tried everything for my eczema but nothing seems to work”?   No matter what “treatment” the above refers to, you can be sure that some part of it includes an eczema cream – maybe you’ve even tried all the creams!   If this sounds familiar, I know there’s certainly one option you’ve never tried – and it’s one that doesn't revolve around the tyranny of drugs and creams. To be clear, we’re not saying these don’t work at all; see this earlier post for the nuances of how they work.   If you’ve been trying a number of eczema treatments, then the idea of trying this alternative, drug-free option might be your next best experiment.  

The Eczema Mindset Trap

  I find it's easier sometimes to think in terms of a story or an analogy. In my experience, I've noticed people can relate to an eczema scenario and customise it for their own use.   Here's a scenario you've probably already been through before a hundred times:

• Something in your life causes a trigger of high stress or irritation.
• You eventually notice an area of redness on your skin, dryness, or some other symptom of eczema.
• You apply a cream or ointment that eases some symptoms in this area.
• Some time later, the symptom flares up again!

  Rinse and repeat (quite literally). This is a process that has little input from you and can often cause embarrassment, shame or other negative emotions around your eczema.   This isn't just about a specific ointment or cream, but rather what we call “topical” treatments – those that work only on the outside of us, usually applied to an area of the skin.    But what if I told you that instead of this simple “outside” treatment, you could create a cycle of healing from the “inside”?   If you want a completely different alternative that will make your eczema go away over time, I’ve seen this option be successful for many curious students before.  

Finding What Works For You

  Like any good detective or doctor, we'll first need to find something that reveals a cause. You can call it “diagnostics”, but I find it helpful to term it as revealing the “clue”.   In the example above, we began with the fact that something creates a trigger for your eczema. That trigger, according to eczema statistics, tends to be mainly stress or food allergens.   So when we talk about eczema “going away”, we'll want to consider what triggers it. While many topical eczema treatments work to moisturise an area, what if that's what is allowing the eczema to return?   If that were true, then if we didn't apply any topical treatments, eczema should go away on its own over time.  

How Eczema “Goes Away”

  To be clear, here “go away” will still mean there might be a number of flare-ups (depending on your own diagnosis' severity).   However, it may mean that these flare-ups:

1. 1. Don't become further irritated by adding a topical treatment
   2. Don't become dependent on a moisturising cream, and
   3. Can be addressed by their trigger instead of their symptom.

  Of course, the third point above is key. When we reveal the clue (in this example, stress), we realise that we have a choice.   That choice is between responding from a mindset of panic and treatment OR responding from a mindset of diagnosis and causation.   We call this thinking from an “inside” mindset as opposed to a purely “outside” one.   In essence, it means that sometimes the best treatment is no topical treatment as those may be continuing to feed the problem.  

The Cost Of Drug-Free Eczema Treatments

  We know that the cost / benefit analysis of this isn't about saving money on creams, is it?   It's about how eczema flare-ups make you feel – about yourself, your mental health, and about how the world perceives you.   And here again, I present one (final) analogy. If you've ever waited for an elevator when you desperately needed to use the bathroom, you know that somehow time stretches itself while you wait.   In most cases, rather than waiting for the elevator, our desperation means we might take the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator.   We even convince ourselves this is, indeed, faster. But do we really know that? It doesn't matter!   Our desperation forces us to feel like we should be in action. We feel we should be doing something, moving towards our goal – so we take the stairs to feel that we are addressing the issue even though that may not be working in our favour.  

Changing Your Mindset Around Eczema

  So, if we can learn to assess the situation – by revealing the clue – we can then consider our options more logically.   Sometimes that logic may tell us that some treatments have been further irritating the area, and so the option of “standing still” (not applying anything) may actually be the better one.   Sure, that means that you may have to deal with a brief period of discomfort – but wouldn't it be better to have that once, instead of every month?   I encourage you to consider it – especially if you've had multiple flare-ups from various treatments – by starting with revealing your own clue.   If you can change your mindset, you can end the panic and you can stop the cycle.   Still not sure how to change your mindset? Here's how someone else successfully did it and what they learned. 

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